A Q&A with S.E. Grove

Author of The Golden SpecificJuly 2015, Viking BFYR

Hi S.E.! You know that we’ve been fans ofThe Glass Sentencefrom the moment that I first came across the Publisher’s Weekly announcement for the book, so this is a huge honor for us!

S.E.

Thank you! For me, too! I so appreciate all of your enthusiasm at every step of the way.It’s beenjustwonderful to feel the support!

Q: So first things first: A challenge for you! Could you tell us aboutThe Golden Specificin ten words or less?

S.E.

A villain from the past. A plague from the future. (Wow, that was tough.)

Q: I’ve often heard that a sophomore book can be the most challenging for a writer, because they have to concurrently reintroduce readers to the world that they’ve built in the first book, while also advancing the action for whatever is to come.

What were some of the challenges – both positive and negative – that you experienced while writingThe Golden Specific? And did you have a specific plan for how you would tackle those challenges going in?

S.E.

I agree that the second book is challenging, although I think in my case it was mostly challenging because I was opening up books 2 and 3 rather than making a stand-alone book 2 that would then be followed by a stand-alone book 3. In other words, I think it’s hard to write amiddlebook. Apparently I tackled this challenge by throwing a LOT of balls in the air. The good that’s come out of it, I think, is that this doesn’t feel like a humdrum-ok-next-adventure-just-like-the-last-one story. The not-so-good has been trying to keep clarity and focus in this book with so many moving parts.Many things in book 2 don’t get resolved in book 2 – they are waiting for resolution in book 3 – and I think that can test both reader and writer.

Q: On a related note,The Glass Sentencehad some of the most spectacular world-building that I’ve seen in children’sliterature in quite some time. Could you talk a little both about how you’ve conceived some of the ideas in the books – e.g. the different types of maps – and how you used those ideas to build onto the bigger world?

S.E.

Thank you! The world-building really emerges from being a frustrated time-traveler, as I think many of us are. As a historian, I always feel the inevitable limitation that comes from being in our here and now. No matter how much I read, I will never get to talk to someone from 1754 (to pick a random date). Thisfrustration/desire is what informs the idea of the “Great Disruption,” and it’s also what informs the idea of the memory maps.

Wouldn’tyouloveto be able to really know how someone experienced the past? To step into their shoes and see their memories made animate? This book was written as a kind of personal fantasy, because for a long time I didn’t have plans to publish it – the idea was to immerse myself in these worlds that I couldn’t go to in real life!

Q: As someone who has now been lucky enough to read both books, I can say that Sophia doesexperience a fantastic number of life lessons throughout the course of both books, including the idea that she can stand up for herself against unimaginablechallenges. What’s one theme or idea that you hope that readers will come away with while reading? And why is that idea or theme important to you?

S.E.

Hm. That is tough, because I have a handful of themes and ideas that I am very attached to.I will mention a couple, and you can pick! Taking my cue from what you say about Sophia’s challenges, I’d have to point to Sophia’s empathy. We live in an age (ha) that does not stress empathy as a problem-solving approach, and a lot of ourrolemodels fight, win, survive, and beat their way out of difficulties. I wanted to create a heroine whose great strength– in a kind of ordinary, not extraordinary way –wasto empathize. And this strength is reflected in the tools of her trade, if you will, since the memory maps are designed to immerse you (themap-reader) in the experiences and feelings of the person who made the map. Relatedly, I wanted to stressSophia’s process of becoming a reader. These books argue that beinga skilled and thoughtful reader (of people, places, situations) is really something worth striving for.Another theme I’m attached to, more at the big-picture level, has to do with tolerance and intolerance. As you know, New Occident is making choices that reflect intolerance, and I hope that readers of these books will be prompted to think about what it means to live in a place that views difference as threatenin

Q: Ok, final question: could Shadrack Elli be mine…? Just kidding!

S.E.

Yes! You might have to arm-wrestle Veressa, but as long as you stay clear of the thorns you willbe ok.

Q: What’s next for you? Outside of working on the final book in the trilogy, are there any other projects that you would be willing to share with us?

S.E.

I am, indeed, wrapping up the last book in the trilogy. So far (hopefully I won’tjinx myself) it’s been less challenging than book 2 because now I actually get to pull everything together! I hope readers will find this long story arc satisfying. As for what’s after that… I do have some thingsbubbling on the stove, but they are so, soundercookedthat I can hardly say anything coherent about them.I can say that they are roughly in the same genre and thatthey once again try to marry history, fantasy, and politics. Hopefully they will cook some more and some day be edible!

Giveaway time!

S.E.'s series is one of my favorite MG series out there. So I want you guys to have the opportunity to own copies of your own. Enter now! US/INT.

Basically I really need to read the first book :P I have The Glass Sentence, just need to get this second book and then I can read them back to back~ I'm always impressed at the amount of planning it takes to write a series so I'm glad to hear the tough second book is done and book 3 isn't too challenging :D